1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electromagnetic cutting apparatus for use with sewing machines, and in particular with flatbed sewing machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Applicant's Canadian Pat. No. 932,650, issued Aug. 28, 1973 discloses an electromagnetic cutting apparatus for cutting a strip of binding tape sewed onto shoe upper components. The cutting apparatus includes an electromagnetically operated plunger with a blade on the outer end thereof for cutting the tape at the leading and trailing edges of each component. The edges of the components in the vicinity of the tape are detected by means of photosensors mounted in the work surface of the apparatus. As the components and tape pass over the work surface, they occlude or open the photosensors to light from a light source mounted above such work surface. The photosensors form part of a control circuit for actuating the plunger to perform a cutting action.
The apparatus described in the above-identified Canadian patent is intended to facilitate automatic rapid and accurate cutting of a binding tape between a plurality of components fed from a sewing machine. The apparatus does, in fact, perform in the intended manner. A drawback of such apparatus is that it utilizes an impact cutting action in which the strip to be cut is guillotined by a blade driven against a hard metal insert in an anvil over which the strip is passed. With a flatbed sewing machine, there is insufficient space for such an anvil and insert arrangement. Moreover, impact cutting using the apparatus described in the above-mentioned Canadian patent is noisy, and considerable force is required for driving the blade through the material forming the strip in order to effect a clean cut.
With a view to reducing the force required to cut the strip of material, and, to a lesser extent, in order to provide a more compact, quieter sewing-cutting system, the inventor has devised a modified cutting apparatus for use with flatbed sewing machines which is connected directly to a slightly modified sewing machine and still performs the desired cutting action in a non-impacting manner and at least as quickly as the patented apparatus.